Echoes of the Chosen One
by RekkingPride
Summary: Naruto has been reincarnated as a Skywalker when the galaxy has the New Jedi Order to guard it from all dangers, but through some unfortunate circumstances he has found himself in the new Sequel Trilogy Timeline where new adventures await. While things are confusing, one thing is for certain; the new galaxy's future won't be the same! Sequel Trilogy Timeline! Harem?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: It may not make much sense initially, but it will, at least if you pay attention, I promise. :P**

 **Edit: Looking back on it, I think it was too early to have a music suggestion here. Leave that for later, my bad.**

* * *

 _It was cramped within the confines of a snub fighter._

 _There were some people in the galaxy that enjoyed being behind the controls of small fighters and interceptors. They found the direct application of skill and finesse that characterized space dogfighting to be a thrill and a great challenge that would bring their very being to the brink and back._

 _The young man that was sitting on his **StealthX** was not one of those individuals. As a matter of fact; unlike the rest of his family, he pretty much preferred to keep his feet grounded on land wherever possible. Ironic, given his name and what it was famous for._

 _Regardless, given the nature of the galaxy, spacefaring was obviously going to be one of those things that the pilot was going to have to deal with, especially with his mother acting as protective as usual..._

 _He wasn't blind, he knew why he was sent to this section of the galaxy; away from the hot zone that has been brewing between the Chiss and those weird bug creatures. Or, so he had heard anyway._

 _Unlike his parents, Master Durron was always forthcoming with information about the issues affecting the wider galaxy. Though he had the presence of mind to inform him only when the younger man asked...and when away from his parents._

 _He really did love them dearly, but surely they knew that he had to leave the nest eventually?_

 _Sighing the pilot stayed on watch within the confines of his snub fighter, utilizing the stealth capabilities that were built into it's design to stay out of anyone's sensors. Useful for the job that he was pretty much forced to take._

 _Mara Jade Skywalker rarely took no for an answer when she was determined enough, and her son knew a lost cause when he saw one._

 _His poor younger brother was only beginning to learn that, unfortunately._

 _Raising a ration bar from the stack that he always kept within the small compartment inside the cockpit, the young pilot bit into the flavorless food, grimacing even as he glanced at his screen for any blips._

 _Still nothing._

 _It was frustrating, really. While the rest of the Order was off making sure that the galaxy was safe from whatever crisis popped up next, the pilot was here on anti-pirate duty. On the other edge of the galaxy from the Unknown Regions._

 _"Fair play, mom." grumbled the youth, ripping another piece from the ration bar when he glanced at his viewport again._

 _And then paused._

 _Leaning forward, blue eyes squinted at the small dot that seemed to be moving within the atmosphere of the planet he was watching over at the request of a baron on Sikurd. Who, apparently, has been seeing a sharp uptick in piracy recently in the Esstran Sector._

 _His mother was probably hoping for this mission to occupy the young man for at least a month, seeing as he was supposed to essentially watch the many planets within the Esstran Sector by himself...but apparently the Force was with him._

 _The planet he was watching over; Ziost, was a barren wasteland, and frozen tundra planets like that tended to be the perfect places for pirate bases to be established. Which was precisely why the young man decided to narrow down his watch towards those types of systems in this sector._

 _It seems that his logic paid off, because he had just won the sabacc pot._

 _Grinning from ear-to-ear, the pilot stretched out with the Force, sending tendrils out towards the ship that exited the dead planet's atmosphere, hoping that he remained hidden to their sensors-_

 ** _Cold._**

 _The pilot gasped, retracting himself from the Force at the chilling feeling that he had just received from touching the inhabitants of the far off ship with the Force, eyes wide as his heart hammered in his rib cage painfully. An inlking of a clue worming it's way to his brain of what he had just experienced._

 _But his heart, no, his very soul didn't want to believe it._

 _Yet, he couldn't deny it, not with the immensely dark regard that had just been fixated upon him, and the swift turn that the freighter had just made towards his position. Feelings of hostility blatant in the Force._

 _He had heard the stories of the Dark Side and of the Sith. He was informed through holovids and holobooks of them and the danger that they had posed to the galaxy before they were vanquished once and for all. And yet..._

 _And yet nothing could've possibly prepared the pilot for the feeling that was crawling up his spine, or the abject and naked fear that clawed at him, rooting him in place. Paralyzed._

 _It was only through the thought of the very real danger that these people presented to not only him, not only to the galaxy, but to his **family** , that young man was finally able to act._

 _Acting on instinct, the young warrior started his sublight engines and put all power into his rear deflector shields, calculating a jump to lightspeed, only know regretting not taking an R9 unit with him to help him out._

 _Centering himself with a calm focus that he wasn't even aware that he had, the newly minted Jedi Knight of the New Jedi Order let go of his conscious self and entrusted himself to the Force. Allowing it to guide his hand as he punched in the coordinates that would lead him to safety._

 _He took a tiny bit of grim amusement from the thought of possible death by ending up in the middle of a star. It would be kind of embarrassing to go into the Netherworld of the Force by randomly punching in hyperspace coordinates._

 _Still, there were worse ways to go, he supposed. Which was why that, with great trepidation, the young man pushed the lever that would send him into the strange dimension known as hyperspace. An act which would either be his death...or his salvation._

 _Blue eyes took watched the forward viewport as the stars stretched out into lines and the famous blue tunnel of hyperspace enveloped his craft, praying to the Force that he would get out of this alive._

* * *

There are things that are universal in the galaxy, truths that cannot be brushed over or ignored unless one was seeking to close their eyes and blind themselves to the world.

To many, no matter which society they were a part of; status was always sought out as a means to elevate oneself within their own native society, and the galaxy at large.

In some cultures, that status could be achieved through honor, leadership, or military prowess. But to most; it was achieved through material wealth.

However, the wish to attain status could go to far, especially in the case of certain planets that promoted naked ambition and self-interest at the cost of all other factors.

That was the case of Nar Shaddaa.

Within it's dirty streets, it's smog-filled air, and it's rampant corruption, there were numerous beings that were barely scraping by while the wealthy and greedy beings on the top of the food chain lounged around and reveled in their ill gotten gains.

Of all of the places in the galaxy that anyone would want to go to; this was definitely not among anyone's top choices. Not by choice at least.

Then again, most people weren't exactly there by choice.

Throughout the bustling and crusty streets of the planet, where numerous men and women desperately clung to life by doing whatever possible regardless of any moral qualms, there were many who moved with urgency. Covering themselves up in an attempt to remain anonymous and hidden. To become just another stranger amongst strangers.

So it wasn't exactly uncommon for many beings to cover themselves up with heavy cloaks, hiding their features for numerous reasons. Perhaps to hide from a bounty, or creditors, or even jilted lovers.

One such cloaked being, a man that had ample reason to hide his identity, was blending in with the disgusting crowd, stalking down narrow streets that were built without an ounce of thought to sanitation. Or to the general population.

Said man kept himself tightly bound by his long brown cloak, keeping his long hood over his face to make sure that no one could recognize his face, even with facial recognition scanners. Just in case.

Despite the cloaked man's obvious wish to retain his status as another faceless nobody down on his luck in the armpit of the galaxy, his purposeful stride forward and his straight back indicated that he wasn't just a typical broken youth on the run from his problems. The very opposite, as a matter of fact.

He looked like a man that was on the _hunt,_ and that he was far from broken, unlike the many poor denizens of the planet.

Keeping his gait steady and his eyes hawkish, the nobody drifted through the unwashed masses, gritting his teeth privately at the abject feeling of hopelessness that literally filtered through the air of this planet. Doing his best to focus on his objective as he repeated line that kept his sanity intact as he lived this false life.

"None of this is real..." he whispered under his breath, his doubts and his hope intermixed in his voice as he trudged on. "None of this is _real..._ "

The man didn't say another word as he quieted down, aware that he was nearing his destination by the change in environment. His actions had to be carefully thought out from here on in; a concept that he was only nominally familiar with.

Somehow, the dirty edifice that made up the many buildings that occupied the streets of Nar Shaddaa became more rundown and desperate than before, and the occupants seemed more listless than he ever thought possible.

He had entered _Hutta Town_ , and it was a territory that was still being fought over by the local Hutt Crime Lords in the area. A fact that left the local inhabitants with even less prospects than before. Something which seemed like a near impossibility to the youth.

Yet one could not deny the feeling that this area of Nar Shaddaa had, not one such as him at any rate.

It was a depressing reality that the hooded man did everything he could to ignore, thus; he continued his mantra that helped him retain his off-hands approach. That helped him remember that this reality was _not_ his own.

"This is _not_ real..." blue eyes narrowed into slits, fists clenching tightly and painfully. "This. Is. Not. _Real._ "

 **"You think so, Me?"**

The cloaked man winced and growled all at once, all while resolutely ignoring the voice that just piped up in his head. Convinced that his sanity was more compromised than he was willing to admit to himself. The voice that started to speak to him was hard to argue with.

Especially when it claimed that he; Anakin, was technically a descendant of it.

 **"I am!"** the voice exclaimed, sounding offended. **"I told you; my name is Uzu...oh wait, right. Different language. Your language is called "Basic", right? A kinda stupid name, if I say so myself."**

The youth didn't say a word, too focused on his objective and thus; unwilling to jeopardize his chances of learning about any possible ways back home.

 _Home_. _His_ galaxy.

Ignoring the dull pang of longing he had always experienced when he thought about his native galaxy, the young man was forced back to reality when he neared the magnificent castle that lorded the area, ostentatiously declaring itself as the home of the most powerful being in Hutta Town.

At least once upon a time.

Like the general area, it seemed that the castle has fallen upon hard times, leaving the once towering structure in severe disrepair. It's thick walls were torn down and brought down to it's foundations, three out of the four spires surrounding the structure were torn apart, and the towers within the castle were caved in completely. As if the castle itself was destroyed from above from orbital bombardment.

If the rumors about the fate of it's original owner was true, then the cloaked man wouldn't have been particularly surprised.

Grakkus the Hutt; a member of the Hutt species which excelled at gathering Jedi artifacts due to his obsessive fascination with the ancient Order, used to be the ruler of Hutta Town. But apparently the local crime lord somehow garnered the attention of Empire's most infamous enforcer, and was captured and arrested. His entire collection was then confiscated by Imperial forces.

Pausing, the man's hooded features pinched up at the thought of _that_ man before shaking his head, refusing to get distracted.

With that information bought from some Bothan information brokers, he privately searched for any rumors surrounding that incident, and almost all sources that he found agreed that Grakkus' palace has been stripped bare of anything of value. Including any Jedi trinkets that could be found and sold in the black market.

However, there was one little tidbit that Anakin made note of; one key piece that gave him a bit of hope.

Darth Vader himself never went planet-side to get the artifacts collected by the greedy hutt, rather; his agents were the ones that gathered anything of value. Which meant that maybe, just _maybe_...the Imperials may have missed something.

Sometimes there were items that only force sensitives could find, so hopefully the Empire's goons and the scavengers in the area missed something vital in their quest for loot.

More than that...there was something in the Force that seemed to call to him about this place, like a little nudge that was urging him to seek it out. As if this place may lead him to the answers that he sought.

 _Trust in the Force._

 **"Wow, this Force-thingy is pretty important in this incarnation, eh?"**

Stepping foot inside the front gate of the castle, the young man craned his neck to check behind him, leery of letting anyone see him enter the shattered home of Grakkus the Hutt. Throughout his young life he had learned that one could not be too careful at times. And for him, that time was definitely now.

Especially since that incident on _Bothawui_...

 **"That was messy."** Shut up.

Satisfied, Anakin rushed inside the fallen building, scampering towards the shadows so that he could be hidden from any lingering and interested eyes in the area. Privately, he had to wonder why there didn't seem to be any squatters that occupied the ruined castle grounds. Was it, perhaps, more unstable than he realized?

Those thoughts would lay forgotten as soon as Anakin expanded his awareness; his feelings stretched beyond the man that he was and encompassed the area. Opening himself up to the Force as he had done time and time again, but this time; aimed specifically at the area he had entered.

At first, he was bombarded by feelings of depression and resignation, but the young man steadily narrowed his search to the barren and battered land that he was immediately surrounded by. Focusing on the very, very faint _inkling_ -

 _Got it!_

Something resonated with the youth as he scrambled towards something at the very back of the castle, taking care to watch his step as he zeroed in on his target. Calling upon the Force as his ally, he defied the laws of gravity in order to clear away hills of long-forgotten rubble that was in his way, keenly aware that there was _something_ hidden underground, stashed away. Somewhere.

After a few moments, his trek ended at the back of one of the many innocuous supply closets, which was obviously emptied out for anything valuable long before he had arrived on planet. At first glance; one would think that there was absolutely nothing here that could capture the interest of a force sensitive. A somewhat reasonable assumption, given the circumstances.

But thanks to the mystical powers of the Force, which brushed at the edge of his awareness, informing him that _this_ spot was of importance, he would hopefully find what he needed in this ruined concentration of power.

At the end of the closet, the wall cracked as the man simply... _pushed_.

The entire wall crumbled under the invisible weight that he applied onto it, throwing dust into the air that brought a cough out of the cloaked man before he waved his arm in an attempt to push the cloud away from him. A futile gesture in the small enclosed space.

Except, as it turned out; it wasn't so enclosed anymore.

Blinking as soon as he could see, blue eyes widened fractionally at the flight of stairs that became available to him, a sense of giddiness capturing him at the sight. Of his accomplishment.

Rushing forward haphazardly, the man descended down the rather wide steps, following the spiral stairs down without much thought. Feeling pretty impetuous at the light-headed prospect of more knowledge. Knowledge that could help him achieve his end game; his escape.

He was so excited that he barely noticed the danger that quickly descended from above, the Force alerting him to the danger that he should've noticed with his own intuition and native skills. Somehow, a trap was sprung without his knowledge, and a portion of the ceiling immediately aimed to squash him into a bloody paste under it's weight, probably as a safety measure against intruders.

Augmenting his movements with the Force, Anakin leapt out of the way right before the huge slab of rock crashed on top of him, landing on his shoulder with a grunt as displaced air slammed against him in a rush, throwing soot and dirt all over him as he kept himself low to the ground. Thankful that his cloak covered him and gave him a measure of protection.

Staying still for all of a few moments, the young man warily raised his head and peeked behind him, eyeing the destruction behind him with a curse under his breath. "What did mom always drill into my head? _Always_ be aware of your surroundings..."

 **"Sounds like a good mom to me dattebayo."**

"She was. _Is_." he refused to believe that he would never see her again. Determined to search the underground cavern - _or was it an emergency escape tunnel?_ \- and take as much Jedi lore as he could find.

Climbing back onto his feet, the youth found himself in a cavern that was surrounded by weapons and Jedi artifacts as well as a bunch of other miscellaneous items that he couldn't quite pin down. He even saw elaborate robes placed in display cases lined up on his right across the smooth and hard walls that were carefully dug out.

Anakin pursed his lips, uncomfortable with the idea of staying in this cave where he could be easily forced into a confrontation, where he was vulnerable. And yet there was no way that he could check all of these items thoroughly without quite some time passing, nor could he take even a fraction of the items that he'd like to abscond with.

That meant he only had one option; and he didn't like it. If only because he didn't like to ask _him_ for anything...he'd prefer to just ignore his existence, really.

 **"Awww, you _do_ care!"**

Anakin sighed. "So you know then. Can you help me out?"

 **"Yep! I've been waiting for you to cave for a few months now, and boy...you really do have my stubborn streak, eh?"**

"If you say so." blue eyes scanned the assortment of items around him, touching at a specific spot on his right shoulder; the spot where the spirit that stuck with him gave the young man his - _it's?_ \- gift. A symbol that he has never seen before, a tattoo, really. Of some kind of ridiculously stylized leaf.

 **"Remember what I told you when you first entered this timeline? About the fire that you brought forth? Concentrate on it."**

Biting his bottom lip, the trained warrior swallowed the misgivings that he had about the spirit that he privately kept. Naturally suspicious despite the fact that it... _he_ had given him no reason to be so mistrustful. To the contrary; he has done nothing but help him on his quest of survival.

So, for the first time since Naruto Uzumaki has appeared within the depths of his mind, Anakin Skywalker allowed himself to trust in the man that claimed to be his original self.

Spreading like warm caf throughout his belly, an azure fire burned, and empowered him beyond anything that he has felt before. And with it's entrance, and the tutelage that he continued to receive; the young man got to work, determined to save as much Jedi treasure as he could.

* * *

 _It took a few hours to exit out of hyperspace, and Anakin Skywalker was surprised to find himself in a very...dark portion of the galaxy._

 _Staring out of his viewport, he uneasily gazed upon the infinite nothingness that characterized the Maw Cluster and it's many black holes. Unsure of why the Force would lead him to such a desolate place._

 _He supposed that he should be grateful however, since he was able to escape those darksiders at all, especially since he had pretty much traveled through a quarter of the entire galaxy._

 _Force, he technically just created a new hyperspace lan just now, didn't he? This would be one hell of a story to tell once he returned back to the Jedi Academy on Ossus._

 _A giggle escaped through his lips at the thought, completely giddy now that the danger has passed. His frayed nerves winding down now that he was sure he wouldn't exit hyperpspace in front of an asteroid field or a star. Or a black hole for that matter._

 _Honestly, Anakin would've just sat there, coming down from his high, if it wasn't for the absolute alarm that he felt through the Force. His danger senses urging him to action with shaky fingers grasping at the controls of his ship._

 _Fear shot through him like ice at the cold feeling that just locked onto him with nothing but ill intent._

 _How? How was it possible?_

 _Could these darksiders have possibly pinpointed his destination by checking his last trajectory? But the chance of that, with all of the systems between Ziost and the Maw..._

 _Gnashing his teeth in frustration, Anakin accelerated his fighter right when a stray laser bolt hit his starboard engine, which was thankfully absorbed by his deflector shields. Aware that a few more clean hits like that would bring his shields down and leave him vulnerable._

 _Stray laser fire lanced through the side of his viewport, lighting up his sight with the fiery bolts of death, enhancing his desperate swerves as he did all he could to make himself as an elusive target as possible. Perhaps if he was an expert pilot like his father, uncle or cousin, then he could pull off some kind of incredible maneuver, but as it was; all he could do was haphazardly dance around the stream of deadly energy._

 _On some level, the young pilot knew that he was being shepherded towards the black holes near the center of the Maw, but for the life of him; he couldn't find a way out of his predicament. If he tilted his ship around to veer away from the powerful celestial phenomenon, then his profile would be laid bare to the enemy. A prospect that would probably end with him becoming a temporary fireball in space before all of the oxygen was expended._

 _But if he didn't..._

 _Knuckles turning white, the inexperienced teen began to shake at the stark realization that just hit him while his hand continued to tighten around the stick of the StealthX. A pit forming in the middle of his stomach._

 _He couldn't get out of this. There was no way he could._

 _He was going to die here._

 _Time seemed to slow at the prospect, images of his friends and family crossing his mind._

 _His loving and overprotective mother, with eyes like the forest and hair as fiery as her personality, much like his own._

 _His trusting and proud father, with blue eyes so much like his own that reflected his dry humor and wisdom._

 _His rough and casual uncle, a man that always managed to put a grin on his face with his wisecracks and worldy attitude._

 _His diplomatic and quietly affectionate aunt, a woman that always seemed to know what to do in times of duress and kept him in the straight and narrow even when his mother wasn't looking._

 _His cousins, so much changed after the war, but always determined to do what was right. Especially Jaina, who has become far more doting ever since..._

 _Anakin's eyelids squeezed shut, mournful at the idea that Jaina would be forced to lose another Anakin, despite her insistence that she was over it._

 _But it wasn't just them. There were so many more...and yet none of them would see him ever again. Nor would they know of the dangers that lurked in the Esstran Sector. Unaware of the presence of the Dark Side in the galaxy still, plotting just like Sidious had, once upon a time._

 _And just like that, with his grip faltering, a wave of determination overcame him, filling him with one single desire._

 ** _To live._**

 ** _"Do you want to live?"_**

 _Anakin wasn't really even aware of the voice that entered his subconscious, or of the little fire that seemed to spark unilaterally within his body, providing clarity as he focused on his single desire. But he still nodded, regardless._

 ** _"Then trust me."_**

 _He did, at that moment. So Anakin piloted his ship into the deep and infinite abyss of one of the many black holes in the Maw Cluster while laser bolts rained around him, promising solemnly in his heart that he would find a way to warn the galaxy._

 _The Galactic Alliance._

 _The Jedi._

 _His family._

 _Anakin Skywalker made such a vow, and for whatever else he was, there was still one simple fact that he would always stand behind._

 _He **always** kept his word._

* * *

"Found something interesting, _Jedi_?"

Anakin cursed under his breath. Was he so distracted that he could get caught so off-guard by a random bounty hunter?

Then again, with a slight tilt of the head, the young Jedi realized that this wasn't just a 'random' bounty hunter. And that was infinitely worse.

Being caught with his his pants down by the former was just embarrassing, but being caught by the _former_ was much worse for his health.

The armor gave him away, since there were very few individuals in the galaxy that would ever dare to impersonate someone of such deadly skill and renown. Though Anakin had to seriously wonder about his luck recently.

He was pretty sure that his luck wasn't anywhere near this bad until-

 **"Yeah. About that...my bad."** Yeah. That pretty much figured.

"Nothing of value to you, _Boba Fett_." both hands were raised up high as blue pupils swerved towards the edge of his eyes. Locking onto the infamous bounty hunter with forest camo mandalorian armor and that somewhat intimidating T-shaped visor.

Of all of the individuals in the galaxy that had to remain in this new timeline, why did _he_ have to be among them? And how did he even track him down after the mess on Bothawui?

As if privy to his private thoughts, Fett inclined his head as he aimed his heavily modified _EE-3 carbine rifle_ at the back of his bounty's skull. "I asked a couple of questions to a few of those information brokers that you spoke with, it doesn't take much to make such men spill their guts. After that, all I had to do was wait until you showed up and got your trinkets."

Anakin clenched his teeth, air leaving his nose in frustration, understanding why the castle was empty. If what the man had just claimed was true, then there was literally no point to his erratic small hyperspace jumps to anywhere _but_ Nar Shaddaa before he entered the system. He didn't want a repeat of Ziost back in his own galaxy.

"Now enough chit-chat, Jedi. Toss your lightsaber away, and no funny business...unless you want to personally test out my _Type-12B capsule_ , they are quite powerful...but I never tested them against one of your kind before." the implicit threat was obvious, and Anakin had no doubt that he would follow through with it.

Thankfully, it seemed that the infamous bounty hunter was rather rusty when it came to force users after all of these years, because he was definitely caught unawares when the broken arch that he was standing on top of suddenly became a little... _unstable_.

It wasn't much; all the cloaked youth had to do was shift a few rocks under his feet, leaving him bereft from any steady footing. A fact that would only hinder his aim, no doubt.

Boba Fett didn't garner his reputation for nothing however, since the deadly mandalorian still had the presence of mind to raise his arm to fire at his target preemptively with that wrist rocket of his. Settling on taking him down with more than a few singes rather than risk losing him.

If it wasn't for his extended period on the run, he might've actually fallen to such an attack too. But if there was anything that Anakin has been forced to be recently, then it was creative.

Raising a hand as soon as the bounty hunter raised his own arm, the ground below responded to his commands and created a wall of rubble which protected the Jedi from most of the fallout of the explosion. Giving him a precious few seconds to get away from the area.

When the rocket detonated on his newly created defense, it quickly spewed out some kind of gas that rapidly expanded throughout the interior of the shattered castle, leaving behind a fragrance that made the edges of his vision a little fuzzy...

 _"Nerve gas...!"_ Anakin snarled to himself, sprinting back from the point of impact, using the Force as his ally to augment his physical abilities and to provide a modicum of protection from the gas. He was no expert, but he could at least keep it from affecting him too much before he got to his ship.

"You're not getting away!" Fett snarled, the sound of blaster fire and a jet pack firing up accompanying his declaration, obviously irritated that he was forced to give chase.

Seeing no other option, Anakin pulled a cylindrical object from his belt, feeling it's familiar weight and comforting warmth from the crystal inside as he thumbed it on.

In a _snap-hiss_ , an azure blade -and it _was_ a blade- shot forth and batted away a stray blaster bolt that would've caught his leg. It's deep blue light making him seem like a beacon on this depressing planet.

Everything afterwards seemed to fast forward for the cloaked force sensitive. Anakin easily recalled how he ran down the streets of Hutta Town towards one of the more private hangar bays that he never obtained permission for; utilizing his ship's famous stealth capabilities to hide it from flight control.

Time moved like a blur where the young Jedi was continuously forced to jump and weave through the garbage that littered the disgusting streets, doing his utmost to keep the civilian casualties to a minimum as he batted every bolt towards the puke-colored green sky. Cloak billowing behind him, keeping his identity a secret for the most part.

Where, once upon a time, the sight of a lightsaber seemed to inspire hope and respect in the galaxy's inhabitants, all he saw was nothing but complete and abject _fear_ in the eyes and faces of the many denizens of Hutta Town at the sight while he ran. And that was something that disturbed him on some intrinsic level.

But he persevered and charged through the city streets, augmenting a jump with the Force to narrowly dodge a concussive missile that would've thrown him off balance and left him vulnerable. Though it did destroy someone's shoddy stand and fling chunks of wood everywhere. Unfortunately, the sonic waves that emitted from the detonation still managed to stun him for no longer than a second despite his clear dodge.

A second far too long.

Fett was on him in a moment, crashing into him with his jetpack blazing with such force that he felt something fracture, his sword arm violently seized by the deadly hunter. With a twist, Anakin's blade left nerveless fingers as his face was introduced to the ground, the bones and cartilage within his nose _shattering_ at the point of impact.

Dazed and in severe pain, the young Jedi only began to struggle again when he felt Boba Fett's fibercord wrap around his bound arms, his knee placed painfully between his shoulder blades. It wasn't until Anakin called upon the fire deep within his belly to give him a burst of strength that he literally _ripped_ through the fibercords, throwing the bounty hunter off of him.

Throwing his hand out, the teenaged warrior called for his lightsaber -so much like his father's- to his hand, wincing at the sudden movement to his arm and the bloody nose he was sporting. Thumbing the blade on as soon as he had it in his palm to swipe back at the charging man; who's anger and dark intention to take a limb was palpable.

With his mighty blade on hand, Anakin honestly expected to take the legendary bounty hunter's arm in his arrogance. But, instead, he felt his blade stop, as if meeting another lightsaber instead of the durasteel armor that he was expecting. It took a second to actually register what he was looking at, but when he did, he gaped.

His lightsaber was _stopped_ by the bounty hunter's wrist guards.

"Cortosis gauntlets." Fett said simply, his grim tone twisted by his helmet. "How do you like them?"

"...I, for one, don't like them that much." Anakin admitted slowly, watching his azure blade sputter and return back to it's hilt. His chances sinking faster than the prospect of a newborn vornskr against an adult gundark.

He only had one option left to him now. Anakin Skywalker knew that he was a part of a family that was extraordinarily powerful in the Force, but he also knew that he had yet to truly reach that full potential, let alone scratch the surface of it. But, in times of duress, he knew that Jedi have been known to accomplish god-like feats of power with the Force. Things beyond their normal output, as trained force sensitives.

And right at that moment, the son of Luke Skywalker was desperate. And so he opened his mouth...and _screamed_.

It was an innocuous movement that wouldn't alert the infamous bounty hunter, but when Skywalker's shout became amplified by nothing more than his limited connection with the Force, he was thrown away like trash as the buildings around them cracked and severed apart. The ground _shattered_ and his scream echoed across all of Hutta Town, blowing back anything that wasn't nailed down from the epicenter.

Then, as abruptly as the storm came, it petered out. Leaving the Jedi drained and tired, forcing him to limp into one of the abandoned buildings nearby to catch his breath, mentally keeping a picture of the deadly mandalorian's presence in the Force. Knowing damn well that there was no way that he was taken out from that.

It was frustrating, he _knew_ that he could do better than that, that Force Scream was probably only a fraction of a fraction of what his father could do. The thought lingered before he felt the mandalorian rapidly approach from above with his jetpack, forcing the teen to call upon the Force again, despite his fatigue. He levitated the junk that littered the streets, including; broken holopads, broken astromech chassis, and other miscellaneous items that he couldn't make heads or tails of.

With a swing of the hand, all of those items flew through the sky in such a manner that he could probably be compared to a humanoid-sized flechette launcher. And like such a weapon; his projectiles spread over such a wide area that it made it difficult to dodge, even for a Jedi.

He could sense the brief consternation that burst from the legendary bounty hunter before explosions erupted from above, a clear indication that he was, at the very least, distracted from his quarry.

Taking a gulp of air, Anakin sprinted out of his hiding spot with what was left of his stamina towards the building at the end of the street, cupping his nose and ignoring the pain in the joint of his right arm.

Unlike the last time he entered the building, he didn't bother to use the Force to enhance his feeling of 'insignificance' to everyone around him, an ability that helped keep wandering eyes away from him, just in case. But that required a fair bit of concentration on his part; which meant that he really didn't have the time or the energy to spare this time around.

Besides; it wasn't like anyone was going to question him, thanks to the chaos in the streets.

Running through the recently abandoned halls and the petrified inhabitants that were too busy hiding to care about what anyone else was up to; Anakin eventually reached the hangar bay that kept his precious ship. Untouched thanks to the gravitas that these private hangars provided. If nothing else; money definitely earned loyalty on this planet, albeit barely.

It didn't even take him much to land the ship, seeing as no one apparently checked whether the hangar doors could be opened manually from the outside or not. Though, he supposed that was a moot point with the Force.

Regardless, Anakin quickly took off his cloak and laid it down on his seat before setting himself down shortly after, starting up the _StealthX's_ flight procedures. Not that he would be able to give his fighter much time to warm up or anything, since they were in a bit of a hurry.

Glancing down, Anakin sighed at the flight suit he was forced to wear thanks to the shortage at the Academy. An Imperial-style flightsuit that replaced the Imperial insignia on it's shoulder pads with the New Jedi Order, and lacked the chest-mounted atmospheric converter. But thanks to the wear and tear that this one had gone through throughout his time in this strange galaxy, it was a little battered.

He had to get new apparel, and soon.

Checking the engines, Anakin swallowed his misgivings and clicked the button that would lock the cockpit viewport into place as he used the Force to forcefully open the hangar doors. Kickstarting the engines as soon as an opening was made, activating all of it's sensor dampeners as soon as he lifted off the ground.

Without waiting another moment, the pilot activated the thrusters and blasted away from Hutta Town, ascending higher into air without preamble. Justifiably tense.

Bounty hunters were known for looking for ships that left the planet in a hurry, mostly because it meant that someone had double crossed a hutt and had just earned themselves a new bounty. A concept that no doubt left many a greedy bounty hunter salivating, or so he's heard from a certain smuggler.

The moment that his _StealthX_ breached the upper atmosphere of the sick planet, the comms within the system began to go abuzz with activity. Indicating that he was being hailed by the freighter that just so happened to be hanging around near the hyperspace lane he was trying to get on. Waiting like a predator was ready to pounce on unsuspecting prey.

Especially since they probably noticed that his ship didn't show up on their scanners, hiking up the value of his capture even more. Still, the Jedi Knight refused to answer or even acknowledge the comm's beeping and veered his ship portside to get out of the way of the hostile freighter's ion cannons, doing his utmost to accelerate out of it's effective range while driving his poor fighter's engine to the brink.

It only took a sparse five more seconds for the gunners in the freighter to understand that he wasn't going to come willingly, which was why they began to open fire upon the hard-to-see snub fighter, their greed palpable in the Force at the prospect of an easy bounty and the sensor dampening technology that they could sell.

Something that seemed to draw every suspiciously idle ship that could make visual contact with the the interaction towards them, rushing to capture the ship that never popped up in their radars and it's pilot.

And then there was the grimly determined man that had just begun to leave the planet from below, his infamous ship soaring towards young Skywalker with the full intention of capture as well.

To all of this, Anakin could only growl and pull up on the stick, rushing through some hyperspace coordinates as ion lasers nearly crashed into his starboard. He needed only to make a small jump away from here before he targeted his real destination; if only to get away from these opportunistic bounty hunters and lose their trail. Getting a breather from these ridiculously close calls was another plus to that idea.

Though such a thing seemed like a minor miracle at right that moment, as the fiery pilot did all he could, and more, to keep his pursuers from getting any clean hits upon his craft. On some level thankful for the small size of the _StealthX_ series.

As Anakin continued to struggle for is survival, another entity watched the proceedings with curiosity, glancing about him as the small ship twisted and tilted, barrel rolled and turned on it's axis. It's young occupant doing absolutely everything he could to dodge as blue streams of laser fire blinded him. All while trying to keep some momentum to keep Fett from catching up to him.

That entity; Naruto Uzumaki, pitied his newest incarnation's situation, but refused to say as much.

If he recalled anything from his own youth, then he knew that he didn't really like to be pitied by others. He just wanted acknowledgement, really, if his old memories served him still.

But this man -teen, really- was different from how the shinobi was, back then, wasn't he?

Different circumstances brought about by different environments and different upbringings forged a different person from the teenager that forged forward with the intent of proving himself to his village, and then; to save it. While Anakin II Skywalker lived a life of comfort, surrounded by love and family as the galaxy burned around him.

A different man, but at the same time...maybe not so much.

Naruto wasn't sure how he should speak to him at first, admittedly, but he realized that deep inside...they really weren't so different, weren't they? Not _really_.

The core of what made up Naruto Uzumaki now made up Anakin II Skywalker, and that core was driving him to warn his family and loved ones and to return to their arms. It was giving him the strength to keep forging ahead in a different world, no, a different _galaxy_ that he knew.

There were things that he disapproved of, privately, but he kept it under wraps until he had a chance to breathe properly.

Lips upturned devlishly upon the older entity's face as Anakin whooped in triumph. It seems that he managed to duck over a large blastboat and trick two of the other bounty hunter ships to fire upon one another, giving him a shield and breathing room to go into lightspeed safely. Allowing the ships behind him to rip themselves apart as they experienced the cold vacuum of space as their hulls became compromised.

Watching the stars stretch into lines, Naruto glanced at the young man that finally allowed the breath that he was holding in to be released. **"Feel better now?"**

Anakin jolted a bit, before forcefully calming down. "Yeah. Actually, I do."

The specter of the past cocked his head to the side, despite the fact that he knew that this young man couldn't see him. **"Then is this a good chance to ask what you're going to do?"**

"What kind of question is that?" the Jedi replied, focused on gently putting his nose back into place. A feat that was far more painful than he gave it credit for. "You live in my head, right? You know what I want to do."

 **"Yeah, I do."** the spirit retorted. **"But you don't. Not really. Not when it comes to this galaxy."**

Shoulders squaring, Anakin finally realized what this was all about. "...This galaxy isn't real, you said so yourself, didn't you?"

 **"I didn't. I said that this galaxy was formed when we broke through the barrier of space and time when we went through that black hole in your galaxy. That this new timeline was created when your determination to live met with my power."**

"So it's fake then." blue eyes hardened into stone, lips forming a flat line. "It's artificially created. A carbon copy."

 **"And yet real people live real lives here, and you know that, don't you?"**

"Don't give me that _shavit!_ " the teenager bit out, wincing when he put a little too much pressure onto his nose. He took a moment to calm down, using Jedi calming techniques. "...You must surely understand my situation, right? You must understand that I _can't_ focus on the people here, that I have concerns with _my_ home, first and foremost."

 **"Of course I do, Me."** Naruto lowered himself to place a hand on his newest self's shoulder, though he knew that he couldn't feel it. **"But it doesn't change the fact that I know how we work...and that the only reason you're telling yourself this lie is to keep yourself from helping. And that's one thing that I think you definitely shouldn't do. If you turn your back on this galaxy; fine, but don't claim that it's because they're fake. Own up to it."**

Anakin didn't say a word, choosing to stare out into the vast expanse of hyperspace instead of answering, still fiddling with his nose. In the end; he didn't speak again to the specter, keeping himself wound tight as he placed his nose back into place carefully leaned back. Ready to exit hyperspace to go somewhere else, still intent on losing any pursuers.

Naruto sighed to himself at the sight, figuring that this was as far as he could go for a while. To the ancient being, it was pretty obvious that Anakin wanted to help, but he was using his obligations to his galaxy as a way to avoid thinking about the people suffering around him. And he could clearly see it take it's toll on him.

Anakin would cave one day soon, he could see that, just like the original Naruto did. The question was; what would happen to this new timeline when he did?

Instead of answering, Naruto chose to close his eyes, delving into the possibilities that lay in this life's future with the abilities that he had garnered over the course of his other lives. Seeing what _could_ be, not necessarily what _would_ be. The future was always a guessing game in the end, and it was something that he always took care to make note of.

At first; he saw nothing. Nothing but the inky blackness that kept all blind and deaf. That swallowed all.

But, for a split second, he saw the slight stirrings of something at the absolute center of what felt like the expanse of life and death, of a bond that connected all things irrevocably and interchangeably.

A spark. The slightest of stirrings in the depths of the universal rule of cause and effect, something which _lit_ into a fire that began to spread across all of space. Across the _galaxy_.

 _'Hello, my name is Anakin Skywalker, and I'm here to rescue you.'_

Instead of watching that fire burn everything in it's wake, he saw it push away the shadows that seemed to encroach upon the very depths of the heart and soul of the lives of many. Saw it touch individuals and planets that seemed far off and distant, and yet intimately familiar.

 _'I trust you. I don't know whether it's a good idea or not, but...I don't think you're like your grandfather before you.'_

Then he saw other fires break out across the map of the galaxy laid out before him, bringing forth their own warmth and glow, pushing back the malaise that infected their systems. The apathy that infected everyone and everything in order to aim for something much bigger and larger than themselves.

 _'Senators of the New Republic, I have come bearing news from your counterparts in the Imperial Remnant.'_

All started from that spark and that initial fire; a bonfire was created that swept the galaxy, and would stand guard as the shadows of doubt and confusion attempted to reestablish itself.

Then, all at once, that vision gave way to faces and sights that moved too fast to make sense, with an assortment and different beings from across the galaxy that would react differently to the catalyst that alight a galaxy.

An imperious man with set rocky features and jet black hair with strands of pure white intermixed, gazing around with suspicion.

A young dark-skinned man staring at the remnants of what looked like a lightsaber with uncertainty.

A group of gruff soldiers that glared at everything and anything foreign and different with a leader that looked away from his men, gazing towards the future.

An elderly woman surrounded by officers with weary eyes, but her grim determination was still set upon the firmness of her jaw.

A young woman wearing light loose-fitting clothing surrounded by the overwhelming sandy heat of her planet, munching on something as she gazed up towards the sky with hopeful eyes.

And so, so many _more_.

 _'You're a Jedi, aren't you?'_

 _'Beware, Skywalker. That naivety of yours may well kill you one day. Though it seems that that day hasn't arrived...'_

 _'Are you really...related to Luke?'_

 _'We must help the Resistance and bring sanity to the New Republic, somehow. Someway.'_

 _'I was dead. They were dead. We were all dead...who are you to change any of that?'_

 _'It's been far too long since I've killed Jedi...'_

 _'Anakin...Skywalker...?'_

 _'Don't you worry, Anakin...I will make sure that you will become the new **Darth Vader!** '_

Naruto winced at that last one, the dark and twisted emotions were blaring out from the ichor-colored pupils and in the words spoken. The absolute certainty in that sentence almost worried the ethereal blond. Almost.

Almost as a passing thought, there were still images of a woman laying comatose in a coffin, a group of hateful soldiers aiming the scopes of their blaster rifles, an ice planet with a massive weapon implanted within it's crust, a massive ship shaped like a wedge that stalked the dark regions of space...

And a the ambitious glare of those gold ichor eyes from before, starving for power at all costs, even the very concept of morality.

Then they were all gone, all possibilities thrown into the vast blue expanse of hyperspace without any proof that they even existed. For all anyone knew, they may as well not have, since they were only for Naruto Uzumaki's viewing pleasure. If one could call such visions a 'pleasure'.

Dragging his gaze down, he marveled at the fact that Anakin Skywalker had managed to fall asleep while traveling, even with the broken nose and the twisted arm he had gotten, did he really delve so deeply into the divinely predicted for so long? There was no way that his newest incarnation would go to sleep unless he believed himself safe, which meant that he already made his last jump already.

He was safe for now. Somehow.

Naruto grinned, shaking his head. **"You did good, kid. You did good."**

The ancient shinobi allowed himself to return to Anakin Skywalker's subconscious, aware that unlike his original self; Skywalker was taught to be suspicious. Skywalker would definitely want to speak with his former incarnation -that _did_ make him into an ancestor, right?- after he calmed down and found a safe spot. If only because he knew that they were just like one another.

They couldn't allow a kind act like that go without giving a proper thanks.

They'd talk, and then; Naruto would finally give him the proper rundown, just like his last incarnation.

As Naruto faded back into Anakin Skywalker again, the blond had to click his ghostly tongue in slight jealousy. **"Lucky bastard doesn't realize how nice that mane of red hair is..."**

* * *

 **AN: Hello all, I know. For those who know me, I really should be focusing on other stories. But after seeing SW: Episode VII: The Last Jedi, I was inspired to do something Star Wars. Then this plot bunny popped up and ruined my attempts at other stories. Mostly because of my frustration with the movie. (Yeah, I didn't like it. Sue me.)**

 **Don't get this twisted, I refuse to go further with this until I am satisfied with my other stories enough to temporarily set those on hiatus. This is just a springboard for something later.**

 **For those who don't know; this is a Naruto Uzumaki reincarnated into the Legends timeline by Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker, and has been transported into the new Disney Canon timeline. Since there aren't too many names to the timeline, I will add some non-vital characters from Legends into the Disney Canon timeline to bring more life into it. As well as factions in general. (One of my complaints in the new Canon.)**

 **As for Anakin Skywalker, (Anakin II Skywalker if you wanna be specific.) he's only a recently Knighted Padawan, so his skills aren't too advanced. Meaning he can be trounced if he's not careful. It also means he has plenty of room for growth. As for the direction of it, who knows? He may go Sith or stick to Jedi, but I doubt that I'd entertain a pure Grey path, at least in the short term...that feels a little too fanfiction-y for my...fanfic. Yeah. Makes sense.**

 **I'd also like to stress the fact that Anakin hasn't gone through what Naruto has at his age and has had a different environment, so his personality will reflect that for better or for worse, and he *will* go through trials and grow from them. As you saw in this chapter, he pretty much had to throw everything to even get away from Boba Fett, so he's nowhere near Jedi Master-level yet.**

 **As for chakra, yes, he will gain more control of it, but it will never get what Naruto had, it will only be a trump card at max. And there will be limitations to what he could do.**

 **Also, I will probably have this as a harem crossover, but I will probably leave the characters already in the Sequel Trilogy out of it. Including Rey, unless convinced otherwise. In return, I'll probably leave A Power's Convergence as a single!pairing to make up for it.**

 **Lastly; Anakin comes to the new "D Timeline" at roughly 30 ABY while 15 years old, afterwards a few months passed leading to 31 ABY. In current time, he recently turned 16 years old. In the old "L Timeline", he was born in 21 ABY and got sent over in 36 ABY. Basically; traveling through space and time is confusing. It will all be elaborated upon more as soon as I get around to this in a year or so. (I actually don't know when.)**

 **...Oh, and there will be some liberties with certain decisions and general "things that happens" when the TFA and TLJ stuff comes along. There were some decisions in the movies that I...didn't quite agree with. A lot, actually.**

 **Ok, think that's it. Feel free to leave reviews critiquing my cringey SW lingo, it will only make me far more powerful than you could possibly imagine. Yeah. I went there. :P**

 **-RekkingPride**


	2. Chapter 2

_As soon as Anakin Skywalker came to after entering into the black hole, he realized that he wasn't in the Maw Cluster anymore. A fact that he garnered when he couldn't sense the astronomical entities that could suck in light through the Force. A sensation that wasn't pleasant to any force user._

 _That fact proved, ultimately, to be a mixed bag in the end. On the one hand; the young Jedi didn't have to worry about getting sucked into another black hole again, on the other...well, he had no idea where he was anymore. Was he still around the Maw? Maybe in an uncharted part of the Unknown Regions? Or he may have even been dropped off into another galaxy._

 _Sighing, the young man that was almost into his sixteenth year of living forced himself to calm down and carefully consider his situation._

 _After taking a cursory glance at his starship, one could easily tell that the basic functions of the craft was still operational, but the nav computer and stealth capabilities seemed to be shot. Hopefully his ship's capabilities were simply disabled after going through the gravity well of a black hole, but he couldn't count on that slim chance. He needed to find someplace to stop, get his ship checked out, and to get information._

 _Thinking on it, Skywalker could at least admit that he was grateful for even being alive. The enormous gravity within a black hole would normally tear ships apart, but it seemed that he got out of that mostly unharmed. Perhaps through the will of the Force? That'd be a comforting thought._

 ** _"Maybe. But I'd like to think that I had a hand in it dattebayo."_**

 _Later on, Anakin would hotly deny that he was so completely surprised by the voice in his head that he'd literally slam his head onto the back of his cockpit. But the spirit would never let him live it down as he shouted and moaned in pain all at once, his hands cupping his throbbing head._

 _Taking a second to seethe, a single blue eye creaked open, glancing about warily. Was he just hearing things or-?_

 ** _"How rude. I technically just saved you just now, you realize that, right?"_**

 _By the Force, he was hearing things now. How had his sanity slipped so quickly for him to be hearing things already?_

 **"No, no, no. I'm very real. C'mon, surely this isn't the craziest thing that has ever happened to you."**

 _"...Who are you?" there was no mistaking the doubt present in the question. "Are you actually here?"_

 ** _"Of course I am! Geez, you save a guy and then they try to act like you're a figment of their imagination. As for your query, well...I'm you."_**

 _Anakin was craning his neck to look around his small cockpit, spooked. "Where are you?"_

 ** _"In your head, of course. Where else?"_**

 _Skywalker took a deep and shaky breath by this point, forcing himself to turn back towards his front viewport to take control of his craft. Resolute in ignoring the voice in his head. Hoping that it'd go away if he pretended it didn't exist._

 _Miraculously, it seemed to have worked since the voice went strangely silent afterwards, leaving Anakin alone to concentrate on his flying as he pushed the thrusters, searching for a hint of a clue of his whereabouts._

 _What felt like hours seemed to have passed as the lost Jedi traversed the empty expanse of space, hoping beyond hope that he didn't plop himself somewhere without any kind of galactic civilization to speak of. Though, at the very least he could take some comfort in knowing that there he was still even in a galaxy. The numerous stars that still glittered in space assured him of that._

 _Seeing the many lights all across his viewport comforted him, and inspired an idea out of him._

 _Stretching out with the Force, he extended his awareness as far as he could, given his training. Seeking intelligent life. Seeking the complicated and, at times, conflicting thoughts that characterized sentient life almost everywhere, barring a few exceptions._

 _And then, at the very edge of the radius of that perception, he felt the teeming mass that he was searching for._

 _Grinning with newfound hope, Anakin pulled up his starfighter and aimed straight for the group of sentients._

* * *

Anakin gently touched his nose again, and his shoulders twitched as a response, prompting a low sigh from the battered youth. Maybe he should've been more cautious and bought a medpac before he left the space station that he found when he first entered this similar -yet so _different_ \- galaxy. Hindsight was fifty-fifty, he supposed.

Glaring at the nav computer, he could clearly see that he was about to exit out of hyperspace, meaning that he would soon be able to find a room and relax. More importantly; he could actually begin to look through the many items that he has procured from Grakkus the Hutt's palace.

First things first though.

Pulling the lever on his control panel, Anakin watched hyperspace give way to real space as he came out of the vibrant blue tunnel, watching as a decently sized space station appeared right in front of his screen. A familiar sight by this point. A welcome one.

Opening his comm channel, the Jedi waited for the transmission that would inevitably be sent to him, like last time. Though hopefully he wouldn't get threatened to be vaporized this time around.

As soon as the comm bleeped he clicked the button that would clear the connection, hearing a familiar gruff voice growl through his _StealthX's_ systems. _"Unless you wanna get vaporized like the last guy, I hope that you managed to get a landing permit before you showed your ugly mug here."_

Ah, he was threatened again in the end. "You claimed that you vaped the last guy the last time I came by here, Dug."

A pause. _"Kid? Is that you? Well, well, well! And here I thought you got yourself killed somewhere in the Outer Rim! Well? Whatcha' waitin' for? Get your little ass in here. Same bay as last time; Thirty-five."_

Combing his hand through his unruly red-gold hair, he blew out some air in exasperation as he followed the coordinates that were transmissioned to his ship's system. Getting a feeling of deja vu once his ship slowly drew into the hanging structure in the middle of nowhere space, at the edge of the Mid Rim.

Pulling into the hangar bay given to him, Anakin wasn't particularly surprised to see that the space given to him was littered with broken ship parts and other garbage that was just thrown around haphazardly. It barely even left him with any space to land. Not that he wasn't used to see such a sight by this point. Actually, he didn't expect anything less.

Activating his landing gears, Anakin leaned his craft into the ray shields of the open bay, contemplating the situation that he had pushed into the back of his mind. Purposely forgotten for far too long so that he may never acknowledge the being he now shared a body with. Even now, despite the aid he had recently received from the spirit claiming to _be_ him, he couldn't help but feel slightly violated.

But he has had months to accept the situation handed to him. And he -Naruto he called himself?- proved himself to be benign after all of this time. Worst he's ever done was annoy him by making smartass quips. A trait that he himself indulged in, ironically. Thinking about it, he now had more than a few questions for him...

 **"You called?"** Speak of the hell-spawn.

"I was just thinking about you." the Jedi answered, the _StealthX_ touching down upon the allotted space below. "I- look, before anything, I just wanted to say that I'm-"

 **"Sorry? Yeah, no worries, I'd be freaked out too if I were you. As a matter of fact; it took me a long time for me to get used to my resident spirit."**

Anakin raised his head, eyes wide in surprise as if he was looking right at the old spirit. "You had one too? Huh. Is this common?"

 **"To us!"** Naruto guffawed in a different plane of existence, or so it seemed. **"Now, what is it that you wanted to ask of me?"**

He hesitated, if only because the redhead didn't want to really hear the answer. "...This galaxy. Once during our travels, you claimed that this galaxy was created when we traveled through that black hole in the Maw. How could that be possible? There shouldn't be any power in existence that could manage that, so how could one event leave such a ripple effect?"

 **"You answered your own question; it was a ripple effect."** Naruto sounded amused. Like this was about standard for him. **"When you entered that black hole, your extreme will to live and your wish to protect unlocked our power, as well as my consciousness. When that happened, you unleashed all of our power in a desperate attempt to protect yourself. We even broke through the barrier of time and space."**

Naruto paused, letting his newest and youngest incarnation absorb the new piece of information. **"To** **be blunt; we caused a massive ripple effect in the space-time continuum. We created echoes. And those echoes created this new timeline where individuals and themes from the past and future of your galaxy may show up in this one."**

"Wait, wait, _wait._ " Anakin leaned back into his seat, face scrunching as he rubbed a hand over it. "How is this even possible? Force, how do you even know of this?"

 **"We are a being of great power, and for a moment, you managed to release it all in your greatest moment of need. So much so that you pretty much crippled yourself from using that kind of power again."** the spirit hummed within his mind, before speaking again. The playful grin obvious through the tone of his voice. **"My power is great enough to see through time and space as well, albeit in a limited fashion. Yep. I'm pretty badass dattebayo."**

The Jedi stayed silent for all of five seconds, jaw flexing, not wanting to believe such a thing. But the fact that he even survived going through a _black hole_ at all was hard to argue against. He also felt the truth in his words, somehow.

"...If what you're telling me is true-" Anakin started again slowly. "Then how will this affect my galaxy? If there are people in this galaxy that now exist because of my actions, how will that affect them in my own? And what do you mean by 'themes'?"

 **"Your galaxy will be affected by these ripples, yeah. The people that now exist in this galaxy probably will no longer exist in yours. And the events that might've happened, or did happen, will show up in this one."**

"Can you give me an example of that?" Anakin just wanted to make sure. Or maybe he was curious, both worked.

 **"Sure!"** Naruto piped. **"Looking through your galaxy and this one, I saw that your cousin was gonna go all dark for example. It appears that that isn't gonna happen anymore though."**

Now Anakin knew that his spirit was full of bantha poodoo. The sheer concept that either of his cousins; Jacen or Jaina, could go all Sith on him was absurd and ridiculous. It was so offensive that he was opening his mouth just to verbally tell him off about it.

"Hey! What the hell are you doin' in there, kid? Takin' a nap?"

Right outside his cockpit a voice shouted out, clearly bemused, though it was slightly covered up with a humorous overtone. Something typical for the man who held his gruff exterior so close to his chest. A strange sort of pride that many scoundrels seemed to carry.

Maybe it was because of Uncle Han, but Anakin always did have a soft spot for these oft overlooked members of the galactic community.

Opening the cockpit up, Anakin slipped out of the seat and slid down onto the hangar bay floor as he wrapped his dark cloak around himself, meeting the gaze of the boisterous and unkempt man that was waiting for him right in front of the gate that led out of the hangar. "By the Emperor's black bones...you've actually got all ya limbs!"

Anakin let loose a slight brief smile. "Good to see you too, Dug. Got a spare room?"

Dug; the slightly chubby man with untidy smuggler's garb, a bald head, and a dark spotty neckbeard, grinned toothily. "Hah! You've definitely gotten more backbone compared to last time. You've even got some wounds on ya to call your own. Stars, you're beginning to _look_ like a man these days!"

"Layin' it a bit thick, aren't ya!?" a woman crowed from behind one of the broken ship parts, words slurred in her drunken stupor, poking her head out of the wrckage to leer at the man. "Quit flirtn' ya creep!"

"Frag off, Sheela! You can talk trash when you don't look like a mynock's daughter!" Dug roared in answer. He took a moment to wait for a response before facing the younger man with a wide smile, showing off his teeth. Or what was left of them. "C'mon kid, let's get ya settled down. Ya look like hell."

Anakin also concluded that the random woman probably fell back to sleep, nodding to the suggestion given. "Thanks. You want the credits now, or-?"

"Nah, you're good. Just pay me when you're done with the rooms. I trust ya, kid." Dug spun on his heel and ambled down the gate from whence he came. Not waiting for the younger man.

Trailing after him, Anakin studied the station as he walked, recalling how wary he was the first time he came by this lawless station when he first entered this galaxy. It was the first group of sentient life that he could find, and his first impression wasn't the best. He couldn't count the amount of times he's was threatened to get atomized while he was here. Looking back on it, his cautious state probably translated as timidness to the rough crowd here, which attributed to his initial rough time.

Not that that didn't come with it's own perks. Since he definitely came off as less-than-threatening the first time around. A fact that helped keep him alive, for the most part.

It was surreal, reading the suspended screens that still advertised tourism to the Imperial Center in the Core Worlds, the stacks upon stacks of containers that lined the walls, and the creaky floors that were missing tiles in some places. He was also pretty sure that he saw more than a few rodents on the way to the main cabaret on the station.

"You remember the rules on the _Outlaw's Haven_ , kid?" Dug called out over his shoulder, reaching the last corner of the main hallway before they reached the boisterous 'dining' area. Former. Because it definitely wasn't a dining area anymore.

"I stuck around this place for almost a month." Anakin reminded him, hearing the customary shouts and crashes that he associated with this establishment already. "I'll be fine."

Laughing off the confidence expressed, Dug casually walked into the room filled with all assortments of beings from across the Mid-Rim. Humans, Ithorians, Trandoshans, Twi'leks, Zeltrons, Rodians, and far, far more beings just partying, drinking, flirting, planning, and flat out fighting in some cases. All of which took place in a room where the floor was sunken down, leading to the separation of the room between two flight levels; the upper outer ring and the sunken inner ring.

The first level, the one that Anakin stepped onto the second he entered the room, seemed to be for those who just wanted to chat or relax with a drink, with a large amount of tables thrown about. The second flight below on the other hand seemed to be the dance floor where sentient beings were partaking in all manners of sweaty and sexualized dancing under the beat and the dim lights aimed upon them. Giving an air of anonymity to those that didn't want their spouses or significant others to know of their actions.

Nothing has changed since the last time he has came by it seemed, and he was still slightly embarrassed at the sight occurring just below.

"Want to join in the fun, kid?" Dug asked with a pat on the back, leering at the sight of an especially voluptuous Twi'lek and her toned body on the dance floor. "I can guarantee ya that some ladies here have a thing for younger men."

"Can't. Haven't taken my vaccines yet." Anakin managed to employ his dry humor to deflect the question, though it was a genuine concern, given his environment.

Leaning back to bark a laugh, the large man slammed his hand on the redhead's back in merriment. "Hah! Always the shy one, aren't ya? Well, suit yourself, just leaves more for the rest of us. That bein' said, let's take ya to your quarters-"

"Hey! Dug! That you!? I need yer help with some schmuck over on the gambling ring in the Dorn Sector!" a giant of a man called out from another part of the room, nearly drowned out by the beats being played from the speakers above. Though, given his time spent on this station, it seemed like Dug was used to such loud things. His growl supported that.

"It better not be that idiot, Thangeran again, I swear I'll space him if it is..." the owner of the establishment murmured darkly, before turning to the younger man with a sigh. "Sorry kid, looks like the tour's over. Your room's the same as last time, and here's the card key for it. It's good to see that you're in one piece, brat."

An echo. Faint, but very real slapped the Jedi in the face, nearly causing a gasp to escape his lips. All for a word the evoked something deep inside. A life that was his, and yet wasn't. For a moment, all he saw was a man with ludicrously long hair, a strange metal headband, and strange clothes smiling at him with his dark eyes twinlking. As if sharing a private joke between family.

It all happened in an instant, though Anakin beamed and grabbed the card, grateful for the man's hospitality still. "Thanks, you're a big help."

"No need to thank me, kid." Dug replied as he trudged off, smirking. "I won a bet because of you."

The young Jedi thought it not wise to ask what that bet may have entailed and gracefully stepped back from the conversation to head to his new quarters. Making sure not to bump anyone accidentally as he walked through the inner ring. After what happened last time, he preferred not to rile up any particularly aggressive or drunk patrons.

Though he had to wonder what the Seven Correlian Hells just happened to him back there.

* * *

Licking his lips, Anakin studied the large mess that he had inadvertently made in his room, wondering how he should even begin to analyze everything.

Shoulders rolling in trepidation mixed with a healthy dose of anticipation, both hands bunched up to scoop out a few holocrons, shivering slightly at the sense of history and the knowledge held within the cubes. It's otherworldly light prompting him to carefully carry them to the far side of the room to place them on the small nightstand near his bed in a reverent fashion.

For all of his talk that the galaxy around him was fake, Anakin couldn't quite treat Jedi holocrons with anything but respect.

Switching back to the pile he left, blue eyes snapped to the locked door and then swerved across the cubicle and somewhat spartan grey room, filled with nothing but the basic amenities. He quickly figured that he could get away with a telekinetic clean up without any prying eyes around.

Raising a hand, invisible tendrils separated the many artifacts and the transparisteel boxes with elaborate robes and clothing into different portions of the room. Lining them up according to what their types and similarities. Cases were placed together, holocrons had their own area, and the holobooks were given their own corner so that they may be studied.

With order restored to his quarters Anakin dropped onto his bed bonelessly, grabbing a tissue to tentatively rub his nostrils from whatever dried blood remained. Wishing he had a medical droid right about then, if only to make sure his nose was _actually_ alright. A shame that the station's droids were always a little...suspect.

Wincing when he applied a little too much pressure, the piece of paper slipped through tensed fingers, forcing him to curse and bend down to retrieve it. Pausing when he saw something that wasn't on the floor before...and most definitely wasn't a tissue paper.

Picking up the object, Anakin inspected the small device with curiosity, identifying it as a datapad that wasn't his own. Wondering where it came from, he clicked it on and watched the list of information flicker on on the screen, eyes widening steadily the more he read.

"...This is Grakkus' datapad!" Anakin gasped, quickly scrolling down the list at the vast storage of information at his fingertips, his fingers digging into the device. "He must've figured that no one would find his hidden stash, so he didn't even bother to leave a password for this thing..."

Hours must've passed as his gaze scoured through the paragraphs upon paragraphs that were left behind by the obsessive hutt. Learning the little tidbits of information he has gathered about the many Jedi-related items he has gathered, many of which was obviously not in Skywalker's hands. But he definitely learned quite a bit about the items that he _did_ have.

Rubbing his tired eyes, Anakin tapped the pad to reach the next file to read what else Grakkus left him, his fatigue wiped away as soon as he understood what he was looking at. Slipping his hand into the back pocket in his Imperial-styled flight suit, he retrieved his own datapad and began jotting down information with his stylus, filing away the planet's name mentioned into memory.

 **"Jebble, eh? Weird name."**

"You're not wrong." Anakin agreed passively, saving the information inputted into his datapad. Not allowing his slight surprise to appear on his face. "There are many strange worlds in the galaxy, and far stranger things."

 **"Sounds like a pain in the ass to me."**

A smile cracked through the facade. "Tell the galaxy that. Trust me, I wish that they'd listen."

 **"What are you planning to do now anyway?"**

"Now?" the young man pursed his lips, considering the query, weighing his options. "I suppose I should try to find a transport where I can ferry my _StealthX_ with me, if only to keep some heat off of me for a little bit. I still can't believe how I earned Fett's attention...barely got out of that fight on Nar Shaddaa alive."

 **"Maybe you should get some training in?"** the voice pointed out, as if it were obvious. **"Always worked for me."**

"I might've, if I had a place to train." the redhead pointed out reasonably, raising his head to the ceiling as he brushed some stray locks away from his forehead. "Jedi don't seem to be well-loved around here. Force, just look at Fett. I need to get out of this galaxy as fast as possible."

The voice; Naruto, went quiet. Perhaps thinking on his newest self's intent and seeking for a way to help, or maybe he disapproved of what he wanted to do. There was no way to tell, unfortunately, since he couldn't really see Naruto Uzumaki's facial features. So Anakin opted to push himself off of his bed to see whether he could arrange for transport with someone to Jebble. If what the datapad said was true...then there could be something incredible on the unknown planet.

Something, one could say; legendary.

 **"Can I see your lightsaber?"**

Now Skywalker couldn't hide his surprise from both; his expression and his words. "Why would you wanna see that?"

 **"It took a little bit, but your memories are finally beginning to meld into mine and vice-versa, and one of the impressions I got was that a lightsaber sorta reflected the owner. It seems to act like a window to your soul, so to speak. Did I get that right?"**

He wasn't wrong by any means. He was exactly correct, at least if his studies in the Jedi Praxeum and the Academy were of any indication. Which was why he decided to oblige and bring the hilt out from under his cloak, eyeing it for inspection.

The lightsaber was based off of his father's design, though it definitely had his own personal touches. While inspired from his father's hilt, unlike the skeletal base Anakin's had a solid casing with minor indented ridges for the user's ergonomic benefit. Outside of that key difference, their lightsabers were pretty similar; it had an elevated emitter, a throttle-styled activator, and even a belt ring at the pommel of his weapon. Barring the standard blue adegan lightsaber crystal which inhabited his crystal energy chamber.

 **"A strong pommel for a strong and unwavering grip, but also utilitarian and conservative. It's a weapon aimed at taking the fight to the enemy, but also somewhat tempered by the realities whatever situation you find yourself in."** the voice paused, letting his words hang in the air for a beat. **"Did I get it right?"**

Anakin wasn't sure what he should say, so he carefully locked his lightsaber back onto his belt and hid it behind his cloak before taking a step out of his quarters. Intent on looking for transport. It was only after he was walking down the hallway that he answered. "That's the beauty of this kind of thing, it's all up to interpretation."

 **"You just don't want to admit I'm right dattebayo."**

Light mischief danced in blue eyes, though the Jedi's expression remained cool. "That too."

* * *

Anakin had to marvel at the sight of the dancing floor in the cabaret room, and the complete lack of conscious beings that were occupying the second floor. Strewn around the lower level there were many beings that were either sleeping or too stupidly drunk to move without vomiting all over the place. No matter how many times he saw the scene, he was still thrown off by it.

Shaking his far-too-long hair, the Jedi exile moved quietly amongst the remaining patrons with casual ease, taking care not to disturb those who were either knocked out or mumbling to themselves, aiming for a specific man that was leaning against the wall. Silent and unapproachable.

Earlier, the redhead tipped the bartender for some information regarding any possible freighter captains on the station, since such things were actually advertised and encouraged, if anything. Which was why he was approaching the man that had chitin plates for a face and was wearing loose red robes and a vocoder built into his helmet and chest.

"Sarco Plank?" Anakin stopped a meter in front of him, tone and countenance grave and business-like.

The man turned to him slowly, his head tilting to the left slowly as he spoke with a low and deep voice through the vocoder. The slightest of hint of a threat within the inflection. "...Boy...do you believe yourself brave in speaking to me in such a way without too many...witnesses?"

Refusing to rise to meet the needless provocation, the redhead raised his chin and narrowed his eyes as he set his lips on a firm line. "I was told that you had an excellent transport under your disposal. I have quite a bit of wealth under my name, so I was hoping that we could engage in a beneficial-"

"No." Sarco Plank shot him down, his head beginning to tilt back to the right after cocking to roughly forty-five degrees to the left. "Now...leave, before I get upset."

Feeling his heart sink, the Jedi tried a different tact, despite the vile feeling he had simply contemplating what he was about to offer. "There's likely going to be quite a few artifacts where I wish to go. If you provide me transport, I don't mind if you took a few of those-"

"Don't make me...say it again." the hooded man hissed, his head finishing it's clockwork rotation back into it's proper vertical angle. Going silent as soon as he leaned back onto the wall, staring off into space.

Rejected, Anakin backed off, deciding to wait until he had a good night's rest before he tried to look for more pilots. Figuring that most of his prospects were probably knocked out cold or very irritable, that very much seemed like a better idea.

At least until he heard a familiar voice.

"You're full of coptishit and you know it!"

Surprised at the volume, especially given the time, he turned his head to follow the sound of the voice, blue eyes eventually trained onto a table on the far side of the room where three men and two women were having a heated argument, though about what he couldn't tell. Just by a cursory inspection, he could tell that the woman that spoke wasn't exactly pleased to hear what she had just heard.

"No, I ain't." retorted one of the men bluntly as his voice rose in response, his hooked nose making his already oily looks very dubious. A perfect addition to the the station. "Look, when the Empire fell apart, I heard many stories where guys and gals like us pretty much went through a golden age of business. When chaos erupts in the galaxy and shipping lanes fell apart, that's where we get to _really_ rake in the credits. I'm tellin' ya, jumping in that whole mess in the Unknown Regions is bad for business long term."

"You can't _seriously_ believe that, can you?" a woman with jet black hair that reached the lower back, pale skin, and a skin tight faded blue jumpsuit with a faded green sleeveless jacket over it shook her head, as if she was dealing with idiots. "Tray, you don't actually agree with him, do you?"

"Sorry Dantels, I'm going to have to agree with Mister Syrac on this one." the woman beside her remarked sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders. "My ma and pa told me all about the fall of the Empire and the credit rush smugglers like us got at the time. It seems like a safe bet to me."

"That's only because the New Republic takes a hands-off approach to the galaxy! the woman known as Dantels argued hotly, leaning into the table and meeting the man facing her with passion. "If those nutjobs in Unknown Regions are as dangerous as they say, then places like these are gonna be among the first on their hit list. You know the types that are all about order and nothing else."

"Careful, Dantels." the oily man on the other side of the table warned, crossing his thin arms over his chest. "You're beginning to sound like one of them Resistance recruiters. I mean, this whole argument of yours hinges on the idea that this, what was it called...?"

"First Order?" the young man beside him offered, looking interested in the conversation, even eager to hear about it. "Heard about 'em, sound like a bunch of fanatics to me."

"Thank you. Right, the First Order. Shavit...even the name sounds stupid, and you think a group like that has what it takes to conquer a galaxy?" slicking his well-maintained dark hair back with a stray hand, dark eyes peered at the frustrated woman over his hooked nose, unimpressed by her glare. "You're delusional, Dantels. Best to stick with what you're good at rather than sticking your nose in galactic wars. And quit listening to that crazy _former_ Senator over the HoloNet, she's giving ya crazy ideas."

Done with the conversation, the man got onto his feet and opened his arm up in invitation to the other woman, who gleefully took the opportunity to conjoin and allow him to drape his arm over her shoulder securely. "Now if you'll excuse me, Dantels. I need to get some shut-eye for a big job tomorrow, and I'd like to be with my girl for some fun times before we set off."

Dantels let loose a sound somewhere between a scoff and a gag. "Just go."

Shrugging loosely, the pair sauntered off, limbs digging into places not appropriate outside of the privacy of a bedroom, though it was obvious that neither of them really cared about such a concept. Everyone else around the table soon followed, their interest on the table done with the end of the debate, sans the passionate woman named Dantels.

Anakin carefully walked up to her from behind and cleared his throat to announce his presence, reveling in the jolt she experienced when she snapped her head behind her and her jaw dropped. Just a bit. "Sky?"

Sky. The alias that Anakin opted to use so that the famous surname of his lineage wasn't revealed unnecessarily, especially in a shady place like this. Though he had to wonder whether his first name was actually held within the galactic consciousness at all.

For obvious reasons, he didn't want to take that chance. "In the flesh. How're you doing, Nera?"

Nera Dantels shot up out of her seat to slam her hand onto Anakin's back, laughing out in delight. "Well if it isn't my favorite runaway! It's been far too long Sky, how've you been?"

"Surviving, as usual." the redhead paused, gaze sharpening as he lowered his chin. "And I'm not a runaway. Where does that idea even come from?"

"You came here as a timid teenager with a heavy cloak, a personal and interesting star ship, quite a bit of credits, and an unwillingness to divulge his past or name..." Nera noted while she twisted her seat around to face the young man, crossing her legs with a pointed smile. "What? Did you think people like us were born yesterday? You're obviously on the run from somewhere, though from what, I don't know."

The Jedi knew that the people that lived on the edge of galactic society tended to be street smart, but he was once again reminded of just how smart they actually were, as a group. Especially the woman in front of him, with those keen eyes of her's. "You lot are too nosy, you know that?"

"Not nosy." Nera's emerald eyes glinted in the dim room, her signature blue curved tattoos around her eyes, an expression of her individuality, crinkling with her wide smile. White teeth bright to his gaze. "Just willing to bet on everything and anything, including the past life of our resident mascot."

 **"You are plushy worthy."** Frag off.

"Sounds like you had quite the argument." arguments weren't anything new in the _Outlaw's Haven_ , but he knew that Nera was one of the more rational and calmer regulars on the former Imperial station. Knew that she never lost her cool unless it was something she was _really_ passionate about, though he only heard the last bits of the conversation when he walked up to them. "That guy even called you delusional, what's that about?"

"Oh." the professional smuggler scowled, her enthusiasm and good mood evaporating like a droplet of water on a standard Tatooine day. "Just having an argument with some pig-headed smugglers about what's going on in the wider galaxy. Kriffing idiots can't see that the First Order is bad news for everyone..."

The First Order.

Throughout the months that Anakin has spent in this new galaxy, there was nothing quite so...elusive in his mind than the First Order; the Imperial Remnant faction that escaped deep into the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. There were rumors that were whispered behind closed doors that the First Order was this fanatical group that sought to reinstate the Empire as the sole galactic government, and that it was building up it's resources to do just that. But those were all just rumors that the young Jedi heard in passing, never substantiated.

It seemed crazy to Anakin that any group could even think of going to the Unknown Regions without safe passage, seeing as that region of the galaxy was nearly impossible to traverse blindly and filled with dangerous beings. Let alone the idea that they could be re-arming themselves for galactic conquest once again after the fateful battle that ended the Galactic Civil War several years before it ended in his timeline; the Battle of Jakku.

But seeing the passionate fire in his friend's eye, he decided to humor her, at the very least. "How do you know that these First Order guys are an actual threat? The New Republic should be more than powerful enough to deal with any Imperial Remnant faction, especially without any set infrastructure. It's not like they had anything like the Kuat Shipyards in the Unknown Regions, ya know?"

The smuggler pursed her lips, brushing some stray dark locks behind her ear as she dredged up everything that supported her suspicion of the shadowy organization in the far reaches of space. "...Does the name Leia Organa mean anything to you?"

Somehow, someway, Anakin managed to utilize everything his parents had taught him to keep his composure; from utilizing Jedi calming techniques to keeping the perfect poker face. But there was no mistaking the surge of emotion that welled up within him at the mention of that name. In the end, he only barely managed to rasp out another short question. "...Who hasn't?"

Nodding firmly, the young woman was too engrossed in her personal memories to notice the quicksilver change. "Yeah, she was a big name for the old Rebellion, but recently she's been telling anyone that would listen that the First Order has the potential to become a threat to the galaxy. Some say that that way why she wasn't elected to become the New Republic's First Senate; because she became too paranoid of anything even resembling the old Empire."

Newly reticent because he didn't quite trust himself with larger sentence structures, blue eyes peered through lashes after raising them from the floor they were staring at. "And what do you think?"

Nera didn't hesitate, not in this. "She may be a politician, but before that she was princess that led and fought with a rebellion against something much, much bigger than her. She refused be cowed, or to become another cog with the useless Imperial Senate. That's the kind of woman she was, _is_." she hesitated then, if only for a fraction of a second, before going all in, declaring her opinion loud and clear. "If a woman like that raises a big stink about some kind of threat building at the edge of the galaxy...I think that people should at least give her the benefit of the doubt, if only out of respect of what she was."

Anakin nearly failed in keeping the grin that threatened to crack his composure away from his face at the stream of compliments that he heard about his aunt. Even in a different galaxy, his aunt was still fighting the good fight it seemed. He was so overwhelmed by it that it even managed to leak into his voice. "Yeah, she's principled alright."

"That she is." emerald eyes returned back to the here and now as they locked onto blue pupils, a puzzled sense invading their depths. "Moving away from that topic, what are you even doing here so late, Sky? Up to something?"

"You could say that." the roguish grin came quick and easy at the prospect of a little mischief, especially since he didn't have to constantly watch what he was doing when around others he couldn't so readily trust. "I was asking around to see whether I could get someone to transport me around for a while, at least until I'm sure that I've lost the _that_ guy's trail..."

"Uh huh." the smuggler locked eyes with him, studying him, weighing him like a connoisseur of very delectable cuisines. "Where would you plan on going with that kind of transport?"

Sensing a shift, Anakin took a second to properly construct an answer that didn't give anything away. He didn't trust her _too_ much to give away what his real goal was. "I...recently managed to obtain something of a hint that there might be some treasure hidden deep within an ice temple on a planet called Jebble. After checking the Holonet, it should be within the Ojoster sector in the Outer Rim, so it's a way's off, but the treasure should be worth it. I hope."

"I see..." Nera cocked her head with a knowing smirk pulling at her ruby lips. "So...you still looking for that transport?"

* * *

The _Starduster_ was a heavily modified and expanded A-Z-Z-3 Light Freighter, fitted with illegal and legal components alike, like any smuggler worth their salt. It's smooth coral-like curves and powerful shielding gave away it's Mon Calamari origins, giving any captain a powerful base to start from and work their way up. What was once a twenty-four meter long ship with mediocre speed for a ship of it's size became a heavily armored thirty-five meter long ship that contained powerful sublight engines, two dual laser cannons turrets on it's top and belly, and a dual turbolaser cannon below the pilot's viewport. To top it all off; the ship was retrofitted to hold at least one starfighter within it's tiny custom made hangar bay.

"How'd you manage to make a hangar bay in a _freighter?_ Why would you even do that?"

"I'm not answering that first one." Dantels sniffed. "A girl's gotta have her secrets. But as for the second; there are so very few people in the galaxy that actively ferry ships across the galaxy, especially in the Mid-Rim. So I added that feature just in case someone needed a ship smuggled in. Most people wouldn't expect such a small ship to ferry one man ships like that, now would they?"

No, he supposed that most people wouldn't suspect such a thing.

Anakin and Nera stood at the edge of the hangar bay to admire her freighter, giving him an idea of what he was working with and whether it'd be enough to hire. Most importantly; whether the hangar would fit the _StealthX_ he refused to leave behind, since he was pretty sure that it'd be gone the second anyone realized that it's owner had left the system.

He could at least count on the individual quarters since it was sealed via blast doors and the control panel needed at least an hour to slice on a station that had a rugged sense of outlaw honor.

You wanted to jack someone? You either did it while no one was looking, or take it from them face-to-face. Barring those, such unsavory individuals were liable to end up in a trash compactor.

"I think it's good, more than good actually." Anakin wasn't exaggerating after he got back on topic. Mon Calamari ships were always well made, and their shielding was always top notch for their ship types. It was compact. It was perfect. "My ship is ten meters long, so it'll be a tight fit, but it'll work. What do you want for the job?"

"No need for credits." emerald eyes flashed, her leather gloves pulling on her short dark sleeveless jacket. "But I would like to take a souvenir from this treasure stash that you'll get. That okay?"

Feeling the slight pang that resulted in even contemplating giving away would could be priceless Jedi artifacts, Anakin spoke quickly, the words coming out like pulled teeth. "That works. I'll grab my ship. Meet me outside my bay?"

"Yeah. What was it again? Hangar bay Thirty-five, right?"

"Yeah." Anakin turned on his heel, striding down the dirty halls to get to his ship. "I hope I won't scratch my ship..."

"The feeling's mutual about mine!" Nera called out crossly. "Please don't bust up my ship, Sky! She's my baby!"

Rolling his eyes, Skywalker had to really wonder what it was with outcasts and their ships.

 **"Yeah, it's kinda weird to me too. I only ever become infatuated with stuff if I can actually eat it; like ramen, ya know?"**

Anakin only missed a step at the sudden outburst. "You need a bell to announce yourself with, or something. A warning of some kind could be nice."

 **"And miss the look on your face? What kind of man do you take me for?"** Naruto chortled in his head, self-satisfied, before mellowing out. **"Hey, just had a dream recently-"**

"Spirits can dream?"

 **"-It was about a weird forest biome that I've never been in before."** the spirit skipped over the question. Kind of rudely in Anakin's opinion. **"After thinking on it, I can definitively say that our minds are beginning to meld."**

Anakin slowed into a stop, alarms ringing in his head. "Wait. You're saying we're becoming _one_ person?"

 **"Yep. Happening pretty quickly too."**

Vividly recalling the man that popped in his head while speaking to Dug, he grimaced, connecting the seemingly random event to the knowledge he had just acquired. "Is there any way to stop this?"

In reality, Naruto didn't even need to answer, his newest incarnation already knew, deep inside. **"Nope. Eventually we'll merge, though, sorry to say, I doubt your chakra coils will ever grow as large as mine. That black hole maneuver really crippled this body for _that_."**

"Great." there were no words. "Just great."

* * *

As it turned out, his _StealthX_ was a tight fit, though Anakin managed to make it work, somehow. And he managed to do it without harming the _Stardust's_ interior to boot. It was a good thing that his fighter was smaller than the standard X-Wings.

Stepping out of his cockpit with his cloak around him, he surveyed the ship he would be traveling in to Jebble. As he expected the ship's interior was aesthetically pleasing to say the least; filled to the brim with soft curves while mixed with the quiet whirring of the ship's internal components. Though, to be fair; it was a little dirty, a fact that he pretty much expected from a smuggler.

"Woah...she's a beauty alright."

Anakin smiled over his shoulder after he finished his descent. "Yeah, it's definitely a great ship. It's served me well, that's for sure."

Instead of the lopsided grin that Dantels would normally grace him with, she instead cocked a brow. Crossing her arms as if about to reprimand him. "Sky, I think you need to respect your ship here some more."

Now where did this come from? "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, it's just that-" she took a moment to study her ship's own interior, smiling fondly. "It's just a sentiment girls like me get while living the way I have. That if one wants to be treated by their craft correctly, they've got to treat their craft right first, ya know? And you know what's one of the best way to treat your ship right?"

She patted him on the shoulder, winking. "Using the proper pronouns."

Anakin blinked, then turned to glance on his _StealthX_ , a ship that pulled him out of the most impossible of situations thanks to it's ridiculously good stealth capabilities. He would've been captured by Boba Fett at least twice if it wasn't for it.

No. For _her_.

 **"I like her."**

Anakin studied his personal starfighter, a newfound respect welling within at her. "Who?"

 **"You know who. Geez, was I always this-?"**

"Who are you talking to?"

The Jedi turned to meet his hired captain's confused expression, his cheeks burning in embarrassment at getting caught talking to himself. Literally talking to himself. "...Sorry, just a habit I've picked up."

"...Now I'm _really_ curious where you came from if you picked up a habit like _that_." Nera grumbled, turning to amble back to the cockpit. "Mostly so I could stay the kriff away from that system."

Resolved to not say another word for an indeterminate amount of time, Anakin followed so that he could make sure that they were going to the right system. That was the only reason, otherwise he'd just hide in his starfighter for a while.

Reaching the cockpit, he saw Nera pop in the coordinates into her nav computer, angling her ship to make the jump as she flicked on the deflector shields. "Prepping the jump. Jumping in three, two, _one_."

She punched it, and then the stars stretched as the laws of real space fell away to the laws of hyperspace. "Alright. We should get to the Ojoster sector in about an hour."

"Good." Anakin was relieved that there wouldn't be any complications, at least before he got a little bit of rest before they reached Jebble. "If it's alright with you, I'd like to get some shuteye before we exit hyperspace. That okay?"

"Sure, feel free. But I'd like to ask you a few questions before you do that, if you don't mind?" the smuggler spun her seat around to face him, propping an elbow on the armrest as she relaxed. Comforted by the relative safety of hyperspace. "... _Do_ you mind?"

"I don't." Anakin copied her on the co-pilot's seat, figuring that she was curious about the mission. "Shoot."

She took a moment to study him, eyes climbing through his whole body, from foot to head, stopping minutely on his nose. "Were you attacked by bounty hunters while you were traversing the galaxy?"

Slowly straightening his back, azure eyes narrowed with a faint suspicion, unsure of how the woman in front of him could possibly know or even _guess_ that he was, indeed, attacked by a bounty hunter. One of the greatest, in fact. If she supposed that he was the son of some rich family that ran away, then there was no reason she should be asking that question.

...Unless she knew something, at least.

Raising her hands up, palms open, Nera tried to soothe his rankled nerves. "I'll take that as a 'yes', then. Relax, Sky, I'm not your enemy. I'm just...observant, is all."

"Observant?" Anakin retorted caustically. "Or a foreseer?"

" _Observant_." she reiterated, refusing to allow his sarcasm to deviate her from what she had to say. "Look, do you remember what I said to you before you left the _Outlaw's Haven_?"

"You told me that I should leave." reluctantly, Anakin laid back down onto his seat, eyeing her critically. "That there were some rough people coming in during the eleventh month of the standard galactic year."

He remembered alright, it was the piece of information that convinced him to begin his adventure across the galaxy for confirmation of the change in timelines...and the search for Jedi holocrons that could possibly help him.

When Anakin came to the _Oultaw's_ _Haven_ , he was somewhat reluctant to leave after staying there for a standard galactic month, unsure and a bit afraid to see what little information he had managed to scrounge up had already confirmed; that he was nowhere near home. The spirit's explanation of what happened was ignored as well, he was all too willing to push away the truth that was prodding him.

But he knew the second that he saw the change in person, that he would have no choice but to admit it.

By that point he had already befriended the owner of the station and a few smugglers and outlaws, Nera included, and it was her advice to leave that gave him that little extra incentive to go. Though now he had to wonder whether it was for his own good or not.

"I wasn't lying about what I said." Nera bit her bottom lip, appearing contrite the more she spoke. "But I didn't tell you the whole truth either. The fact of the matter was; I saw something that you probably didn't want me to see." she halted, releasing the sigh that has been threatening to come since she started this conversation. "And I wasn't the only one to see it."

A chill crawled up Anakin's spy. "...What did you see?"

Gems of green hardened slightly. "That _souvenir_ you had on your belt. The one you're probably still carrying, in all of your wisdom."

It felt like he was on freefall after getting thrown off a Coruscanti skyscraper by a wookie, and he was left flundering on how to deal with it. So all he could do was ask. "...How?"

Her grin was thin, and not necessarily meant for mirth. "When you got dragged into that drinking contest the day before you left, you didn't notice when a scumbag by the name of Athgar Heece, a drifter that is too much of a scum for even the worse outlaw, tried to pickpocket you. You were too drunk to react to him properly though, so I kicked him off of you before he took anything since I just so happened to be watching the whole thing. But his attempt moved that cloak of yours out of the way...and I think we _both_ saw that souvenir before your cloak covered it again."

Anakin went limp on his seat, boneless at the revelation as Nera stood up and over him, eyes hard. "Stars...what were you thinking, Sky? Holding onto something like that? Just because it's cool to hold onto a fragging _lightsaber_ doesn't mean that it's the smart thing to do!"

"I-" a hand dragged through his red hair. His stress at the situation beginning to make him fidget. "Who else knows?"

"Probably only the guys that attacked you." Dantels shook her head, her long dark hair swishing with the movement. "I doubt that a guy like that would want to split the bounty that a Jedi would catch too much; and make no mistake, they'd act like you're a Jedi, regardless of whether you could use that thing. No, he'd probably call up some friends to do his dirty work to give the information to and reap a portion of the profits. He was always worried about number one in the end."

And that someone just so happened to be one of the most infamous bounty hunters in the galaxy. In the end, it was likely that this Heece was a part of a larger network of bounty hunters...and won Boba Fett's attention by using the key word; _Jedi_.

"Sky, I don't know why you'd hold something like that, but it represents a group that some people actively hunt for. Whatever sentimental value it holds, or whatever...you should let it go."

Anakin was mute while he stood up from his seat, dragging his boots on the way out of the cockpit, pausing only at the door to give an answer.

"I can't." he said simply. "I just can't."

* * *

The captain of the _Stardust_ watched her younger friend, the mysterious young man that people only knew as 'Sky', walk away with his head down. Conflicted more than most young adults like him should be.

She could relate, but she had to seriously wonder about him sometimes. Especially with that lightsaber hilt of his.

Lightsaber. The legendary weapon of the powerful guardians of the Old Republic, and the weapon of the Rebellion's greatest hero; _Luke Skywalker_.

There were only so many reasons why a runaway like Sky would hold onto something like that; from being a collector, to wanting the prestige, to wanting to sell it, or even for sentimental purposes. There were many possibilities.

But with those possibilities, she could presume that at the very least, he might _want_ more Jedi artifacts like that. An obsession for the Jedi would fit with his reluctance to let go of the lightsaber, despite the clear danger that it would put him in. There was simply no other reason she could fathom.

Another possibility tickled her though, an idea that she thought so ludicrous that she dismissed it out of hand the second it came to her.

The idea that Sky, the teen that came to the _Outlaw's Haven_ as a timid mess, that nearly got pickpocketed, and relegated himself to a corner for his first week on the station could be such a legendary figure like a _Jedi_ made her chuckle. With some luck, she could see some really interesting Jedi things and get some spare riches.

She always did have an admiration for those hero types; from the Rebels to the Jedi, so hopefully this trip could give her something to remember those guardians by and hold onto. It turned out that, for her criticisms, she was also quite sentimental.

Shrugging, Nera Dantels relaxed into her seat, peering into the hypnotic blue tunnel that was hyperspace before choosing to take a nap. She would be alerted by her ship when they were close to their destination, so she wasn't worried. She also wasn't worried about the young man inhabiting the same ship as her, he was a good kid, if nothing else.

* * *

"Nera, wake up."

Nera did indeed wake up, though it was with great reluctance and annoyance. "Oh firefek Sky...what is it? This had better be good, otherwise I swear, I'll-"

"You're not a morning person, are you?" Anakin noted dryly, expression resolutely focused on the _Stardust's_ systems. "We're about to exit hyperspace."

Cracking an eye open, the smuggler captain scowled openly at him. "Nice try, but the ship's systems would've informed me if we were about to enter real space again. So this joke of yours failed-"

She trailed off from there, mostly because alarms rang out immediately. Mocking her and the words that had already spilled from her mouth. Eyes snapping open, her gaze inexorably landed onto the redhead, a brow raised in earnest curiosity. "How'd you know?"

Anakin still refused to look at her, his eyes on the console, but his attention on what was coming. Through the Force he could feel... _something_. "Just a hunch."

Eyebrow still cocked, Dantels ultimately pried her eyes away from him with a snort and pulled the lever, immediately reverting them back to real space. As quickly as it appeared, hyperspace gave away to the infinite expanse of space, the planet that they were planning on landing on, and-

"What the-? _Shavit!_ " Nera spat vehemently, scrambling for the controls in front of her, eyes wide. "Where the hell is the- _got it!_ "

Slamming her palm on a button on the far right side of her panel to activate the minor sensor dampening arrays that she had set up, Dantels reared back into her chair to cut off as much power as she could to her ship while still retaining flight capabilities. It wasn't until she accomplished this that she stopped to glare at the sight above their destination. "Sky, do you know what that is?"

Anakin was mute throughout the entire rush to keep them invisible to any scanners, all focus laid upon the wedge-shaped cruiser hanging limp over the ice planet; Jebble. It's gray and muted color scheme contrasting sharply with the frosty planet it was orbiting, and evoking far too _familiar_ images of a faction that he didn't even want to think of in this galaxy.

"...Is it..." his words were forced out, the thrum in the Force intense, as if he was on the cusp of making an life-altering choice. Warning him to stay away, or move forward, he couldn't tell. "...The Empire?"

With it's large assortments of weapons, elevated command bridge, wedge-shaped and vaguely trapezoid-esque shape, and grey color scheme, it certainly looked like a cruiser that belonged to the old Empire. But not like one Anakin himself ever seen, it certainly wasn't an Imperial Star Destroyer, that was for sure. But still, there was something...

Elusive? Uncertain? _Threatening?_

It was always difficult to tell what the Force was trying to tell a Jedi, especially when it came to something that fluctuated as much as the future. Something that always shifted and turned, something that was _always in motion_.

"Sky?" Nera sounded nervous, understandable considering the Empire's dim view on people like her. "Your call. I took the job, and I follow through with my obligations. What do you want to do?"

Within the cruiser was an echo. An echo of _something_ that made his spine crawl, an echo of-

"Darkness..." Anakin murmured mutely, barely an octave below a whisper. So quiet an akk dog could barely hear it.

"What? What was that?"

Anakin glared upon the cruiser, certain more than ever that the large ship belonged to some kind of Imperial Remnant faction, though he had never seen the model before. He was also certain that there were no force-sensitives aboard...only that one definitely _had_ been aboard.

Standing on the precipice of something far bigger than himself, blue eyes hardened and it's owner made his choice. Still wary and noncommittal, but unwilling to give ground in something that seemed to call to him through the Force. Like a beacon in the night; something down there was no reaching to him, and he was determined to find out what.

"We're going."

* * *

With the spartan design and dull colors that was emblematic of the command bridge of not just this particular cruiser, but _all_ Maxima-A class heavy cruisers, one would think that the commanding officer of such a ship would get tired of the sight of it. If only because the repetitiveness.

But dull command bridge wasn't what Commander Malarus saw at all when she gazed upon the rows and rows of officers toiling away to make such a magnificent conjunction of machinery function. Rather, she saw the majesty of her cause's goals and aspirations from within it's color washed walls and hulls. And it's power.

Everyone within the cruiser was working, staving off the ill effects of laziness and negligence whilst promoting the discipline and order she so cherished. And when they were working they were efficiently working to build up the group instead of allowing themselves to become nothing more than individuals that sought to work for the self alone. A concept that the treacherous New Republic kept to the forefront with their ridiculous libertarian off-hands approach to galactic rule.

With the power held by the cruiser itself and the work done to keep it functioning at peak efficiency, she was constantly reminded of the inevitability of the _First Order's_ ascendancy in the galaxy. And the control and stability that they would bring.

Freedom was something that everyone wanted, but it was a concept that very few would actually utilize to better themselves or the state at large, rather, it simply allowed for everyone to do whatever they wanted as long as it was allowed under New Republic laws, damn the consequences. For the good of the whole, freedom most be limited so that stability would come to the galaxy.

But before the First Order completed it's goals, it must still associate with the criminal underworld at times in order to garner funds and sow discontent throughout the galaxy. It was unfortunate, but it must be done so that the First Order's conquest of the galaxy could go smoothly. And that meant that she must deal with ice miners on Jebble.

That wasn't her _only_ reason for being on planet, of course, but the miners didn't have to now that, now did they?

The muscular blond woman smirked triumphantly, her single amber eye contrasting with her artificial black and white pupil as she gazed upon the planet below, not at all aware of the freighter that has skirted around the cruiser towards the planet below.

* * *

Change wasn't always a subtle thing, but when it was it was difficult to quantify or recognize at first. Though _he_ had plenty of time to study those changes over the millennia.

So when change finally came, he would be able to respond to it...and twist it to his advantage. To twist _others_ to his advantage. And it seemed that that patience had finally paid off.

Change was coming, and it was coming in the form of a powerful youth that was coming planetside, his intent unknown, but his inexperience obvious through the Force. And the power he wielded...there was no way to quite describe it, it was like a star that was only beginning it's life cycle; a protostar. And one that would inevitably grow stronger and brighter, perhaps stronger and brighter than any force user he has ever felt before.

That kind of power mixed with inexperience was often dangerous...but it was nothing if not beneficial for a being such as he. It was the perfect mixture to utilize for manipulation and control. Though his host might prove difficult if in the right mind.

He would have to change that, and if all went well...then he would be free of this prison, and he would have a new body to call his own. All he needed now...was patience.

* * *

 **AN: Ok, now this is definitely the last chapter until the others get updated. This was just kinda inspired and fast to make since it's so new. So yeah.**

 **This is also meant to establish that I will be pulling Legends characters into Disney Canon to enrich the galaxy and the setting. Also because I don't want to bring too many OCs. If I continue this, it will be a living, breathing galaxy. With factions and with opinions. Of course this is all AU since Canon might add new characters, but this is how it is for now.**

 **So yeah, other Legends characters will show up that weren't vital to the Legends timeline in the grand scheme of things or haven't existed yet, and will no longer exist in that timeline. (ie someone like Lumiya or Kyle Katarn can't exist in the new the new timeline since they're so important in their times.)**

 **They also have to make sense in the timeline. Gotta love writer justification for BS, eh? It works too since Anakin/Naruto will be messing with space-time to get back home.**

 **So yeah, a few mini adventures that will get the attention of the First Order and other important people will eventually lead to a timeskip that drops the story in 34 ABY, around the time of TFA proper. There just needs to be a few things established and done before then.**

 **Side note; the lightsaber on the thumbnail is pretty much Anakin's lightsaber. Also; he's flawed, that's gonna be a thing.**

 **-RekkingPride**


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